2011 Press Releases
LeBlanc Awarded C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Trophy For Best Overall Performance
Paralympic Class Winners Confirmed As
C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta Wraps Ninth Edition
Download the PDF
NEWPORT, R.I. (August 23, 2011) – The C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Trophy for 2011 has been awarded to Marc LeBlanc of New Orleans, Louisiana. The trophy is awarded to the sailor with the best overall performance at the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta, and was presented to LeBlanc, who races in the 2.4 Metre class, at the conclusion of the ninth running of this annual regatta, considered by many to be the premier event for sailors with disabilities.
On the first day of racing, puffy conditions, with gusts up to 20 knots, saw four races completed by the 2.4 Metre class, which had the largest turnout – 12 boats – of the four fleets competing. After four races, LeBlanc had a net five points and a three-point lead over his closest competitor. On the second day of racing a more consistent breeze in the upper teens allowed LeBlanc to solidify his position as overall class leader when he placed first in all three races while increasing the spread to eight points. And when the series concluded after three days of racing, LeBlanc had finished first in seven out of 10 races to win The Clagett in the 2.4 Metre class.
The 26 year-old LeBlanc, who hopes to represent the U.S.A. in the 2012 Paralympic Games, arrived in Newport, R.I., fresh from a fourth-place finish in the 2.4 Metre class at the IFDS (International Association for Disabled Sailing) World Championship in Weymouth, England, where he was also the top-finishing American in the class. He is ranked 27th in the world in the 2.4 Metre by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).
Paralympic Classes Wrap-Up: There were no surprises, just a great day of sailing, as the ninth annual C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Regatta, North America’s premier event for sailors with disabilities, concluded on August 23 after three days of racing on Narragansett Bay. The standings leaders in the three Paralympic classes – the three-person Sonar, the two-person SKUD-18, and the singlehanded 2.4 Metre – were confirmed as winners once a dying north-westerly breeze gave way to a southerly that allowed three races to be held for the completion of the series.
Sonar: In the Sonar class, three teams, each with hopes of representing the U.S.A. at the 2012 Paralympic Games, topped the five-boat class. Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I. /Cape Coral, Fla.), Tom Brown (Castine, Maine) and Brad Johnson (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), each of whom has been to the Paralympics – although never together as a team – led the Sonar fleet from day one and after 11 races won the championship with 10 points.
“This event [The Clagett] helps us continue the momentum from England, while working on specific areas of our sailing that we want to improve,” said Callahan as he explained that the trio was the top-finishing American team in the Sonar class at the IFDS Worlds in England earlier this summer. “The Clagett fit perfectly into our training program,” he added. Callahan represented the U.S.A. in the Sonar at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and Brown won a bronze medal, in the 2.4 Metre class, at those same games. Johnson also won a bronze medal – earned at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens as crew on a Sonar.
Finishing second were Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, Conn.), 2008 SKUD-18 Paralympic Gold Medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) and Christopher Murphy (Charleston, S.C.) with 24 points, followed three points back by Albert Foster (Wayzata, Minn.), Jim Thweatt (Sacramento, Calif.) and David Burdette (Lutherville, Md.). Fourth overall with 37 points were Charlie Croteau (Worcester, Mass.), James Demsey (Salem, Mass.) and Johanne Lalonde (Ottawa, CAN); Richard Ramos (Medford, Mass.), Duncan Gillespie (Charlestown, Mass.), Kitty Mears (Brighton, Mass.) and Steve Jewett (Winthrop, Mass.) were fifth with 49 points.
Croteau who was making his third appearance in The Clagett and deemed it the “best one yet.” While joking that when “Coach Betsy [Alison] tells you to do something, you do it or die,” he explained with sincerity that he felt he had learned more and performed better because of the clinic and coaching. “I’ll be back next year,” added Croteau.
SKUD-18: In the SKUD-18 class Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Brooke Thomson (Newport Beach, Calif.) won the final three races of the series today to win their class with 10 points. Sarah Everhart Skeels (Tiverton, R.I.) and wounded warrior Aqeel Shhaib (Urbana, Ill.) finished in second place with 21 points, followed by Ken Kelly (Victoria, B.C. CAN) and Brenda Hopkin (Fairmont Hot Springs, CAN) with 28 points.
2.4 Metre: Mark LeBlanc (New Orleans, La.) led the 12-boat 2.4 Metre fleet from day one of The Clagett and was ultimately able to prevent 2010 Clagett champion Charles Rosenfield (Woodstock, Conn.) from successfully defending his title, in spite of Rosenfield winning two races on the final day of the series. LeBlanc ended the 10-race series with 11 points to Rosenfield’s 17. Third overall was able-bodied sailor Peter Wood (Ottawa, CAN) with 27 points, followed by Julia Dorsett (West Chester, Penn.) and Tim Ripley (Randolph, N.J.), with 34 and 48 points, respectively.
“The main thing this year was that the fleet was not as spread out as far as skill level,” said Craig Guthrie (Halifax, Nova Scotia) of the 2.4 Metre sailors. Guthrie, the 2008 Canadian Paralympic Coach, was back at The Clagett to work with the class for his second consecutive year. “We had lead changes at the top end, in the middle and at the back end. And it was fully competitive with 10-11 boats on the line. Everybody got better at their starts. The pure essence of a clinic is to recognize achievement and skill acquisition over a three-to-four day period -- and everybody nailed it. They were getting better at the starts, tactics were getting better, their boat-handling, sail-trim, everything was on a continuous steep learning curve all week. It was great.”
Guthrie went on to explain that the 2.4 is a disabled boat, but is sailed at an integrated level on the world championship level as well as local fleet level “which is what makes it a perfect boat for sailors with disabilities because they can get into an integrated environment which is the ultimate for people with disabilities. People with disabilities are only disabled when they can’t do something.”
Sail Newport Blind Sailing National Championship Recap: Since 2008, blind sailors have raced in The Clagett for the Sail Newport Blind Sailing National Championship title. This year seven teams – some from as far away as Texas and California – raced for two days, completing their regatta a day before the sailors in the Paralympic classes. On the first day of the championship, after five races were completed in puffy conditions with gusts up to 20 knots, the Texas team skippered by Karen Penrose (Shore Acres) and James O’Laughlin (Clear Lake) with sighted guides David Atkinson and Scott Tuma (both Shore Acres), moved to the top of the overall standings with a one-point lead over the Massachusetts team of 2009 Blind Sailing World Champions: Jason Wallenstein (N. Billerica) and Bruce Howell (Needham) with world champion sighted guides Lisa O’Connor Dalton (Hull) and Peter Frisch (Swampscott). Standing third was Sengil “Inky” Inkiala (Watertown, Mass.) and Glenn Boivin (Saugus, Mass.) with Nancy Jodoin (Natick, Mass.) and Ken Legler (Reading, Mass.).
Four more races were completed in the J/22s on the second and final day of the series for a total of nine races to determine the 2011 Sail Newport Blind Sailing National Championship. The Texas team not only was competing at The Clagett for the first time but also went home with the championship title after a solid effort that included a win of the final race of the series to take the championship title with 12 points.
They were followed in the standings by three Massachusetts teams, all of whom participate in the SailBlind program organized by The Carroll Center for the Blind (Newton) and run out of the Courageous Sailing Center in Boston: Jason Wallenstein and Bruce Howell with Lisa O’Connor Dalton and Peter Frisch, won four of the nine races to take second overall with 16 points; Duane Farrar (Watertown) and Deb Keating (Woburn), with Sol Marini (Littleton) and Bob Costello (Medfield), were third overall with 21 points; followed by Sengil Inkiala and Glenn Boivin with Nancy Jodoin and Ken Legler, with 31 points.
Fifth overall with 40 points was Walter Raineri (Santa Clara, Calif.) and Jim Stevens (San Leandro, Calif.) , with Jim Boyd (Concord, Calif.), Chuck Anastasia (Barrington, R.I.) and Matt Dunbar. Another SailBlind team from Massachusetts, Matt Chao (Newton) and Nina Kagan (West Roxbury), with Bill Rapp (Rockport) and Mary McKinnon (South Boston), was sixth with 42 points followed by the California team of Mitsuhiro Iwamoto (San Diego) and Philip Kum (San Francisco), with sighted guides Danette Davis (Berkeley) and Al Spector (Sausalito) – with 46 points.
For more information, become a “Facebook Friend” of The C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Regatta at http://www.facebook.com/pages/C-Thomas-Clagett-Jr-Memorial-Regatta/128829627144323 or visit the event website at www.clagettregatta.org/ where full results, photos and additional information can be found.
About the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic & Regatta: The ninth annual edition, August 20-23, 2011, is based from Sail Newport, Rhode Island’s community sailing center. Widely respected as North America’s premier event for sailors with disabilities, it began as an event for a single class of boat with a stated mission of assisting sailors in realizing their potential on the water by providing them – through the one-day clinic that precedes racing – both the knowledge and tools to improve their skills, and the opportunity to test them in competition. While the mission has stayed the same, the event has expanded to include all three boats that have been chosen as the equipment of the Paralympic Regatta: the three-person Sonar, the two-person SKUD-18 and the singlehanded 2.4 Metre. Since 2008 blind sailors have also been included as they race J/22s with sighted guides for the Sail Newport Blind National Sailing Championship.
The C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta honors the late Tom Clagett (1916-2001), a U.S. Navy World War II veteran who learned to sail on the Chesapeake Bay. As a youngster he suffered temporary paralysis as the result of a bout of meningitis; it was an experience that left him with a deep respect for the accomplishments of people with disabilities, especially athletes.
Sponsors of the C. Thomas Clagett Memorial Clinic & Regatta are: Fiduciary Trust International, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Chartis, Innovative Construction and Roger King Fine Art.
-end-
(See Links Below for Full Race Results)
Para Full Race Results
Blind Full Race Results
Being In the Competition Is Key
Download the PDF
NEWPORT, R.I. (August 22, 2011) – Conditions were wet and wild on Narragansett Bay as the second day of racing got underway at the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Regatta . The ninth edition of the premiere event for sailors with disabilities has attracted over 60 competitors racing in four classes of boats: the three-person Sonar, the two-person SKUD-18, the singlehanded 2.4 Metre and the four-person J/22.
The J/22s wrapped up their series today with a total of nine races to determine the Sail Newport Blind National Sailing Championship. The seven teams, coming from as far away as Texas and California, sail with two sighted guides assisting the two blind sailors.
Mitsuhiro Iwamoto (San Diego) and Philip Kum (San Francisco), with sighted guides Danette Davis (Berkeley) and Al Spector (Sausalito), make up the California team. Kum has been sailing The Clagett with Spector and Davis – who organize the California team and also run the Marin Sailing School – since 2008 when blind sailors were first invited to compete in The Clagett alongside the sailors in the Paralympic classes. They have sailed with Iwamoto on the helm since the 2009 event, and they believe The Clagett is “about being in the competition, not about winning or where your team finished.” The time training and raising the funds necessary to get to the event, is well-spent in order to be able to challenge the country’s best.
The Texas team of Karen Penrose (Shore Acres) and James O’Laughlin (Clear Lake), with sighted guides David Atkinson and Scott Tuma (both Shore Acres) are not only at The Clagett for the first time but also taking home the championship title after a solid effort. With four second-place finishes and a win of the final race on day one, they started the final day of the championship at the top of the leader board. They ended the regatta the same way – winning the final race of the series to take the 2011 Sail Newport Blind National Sailing Championship title with 12 points.
“It’s pretty overwhelming since I am a rookie to sailing,” said Penrose of the championship win before explaining that the team only had a few months to prepare. After making a last-minute decision to enter the regatta, they were fortunate to arrange to practice in a friend’s J/22. “I’ve only been sailing for the last couple of years and I was amazed, very happily, that we ended up doing so well. I had the best crew you could have ever asked for: Jim was our jib trimmer and he did a fantastic job, and Scott has experience with blind sailing as well as J/22s, and especially David who was my talker. Absolutely could not have done it without them.”
The Texans were followed in the standings by three Massachusetts teams, all of whom participate in the SailBlind program organized by The Carroll Center for the Blind (Newton) and run out of the Courageous Sailing Center in Boston: Jason Wallenstein (N. Billerica) and Bruce Howell (Needham), with Lisa O’Connor Dalton (Hull) and Peter Frisch (Swampscott), won four of the nine races to take second overall with 16 points; Duane Farrar (Watertown) and Deb Keating (Woburn), with Sol Marini (Littleton) and Bob Costello (Medfield), were third overall with 21 points; followed by Sengil Inkiala (Watertown) and Glenn Boivin (Saugus), with Nancy Jodoin (Natick) and Ken Legler (Reading), with 31 points.
Fifth overall with 40 points was Walter Raineri (Santa Clara, Calif.) and Jim Stevens (San Leandro, Calif.) , with Jim Boyd (Concord, Calif.), Chuck Anastasia (Barrington, R.I.) and Matt Dunbar. Another SailBlind team from Massachusetts, Matt Chao (Newton) and Nina Kagan (West Roxbury), with Bill Rapp (Rockport) and Mary McKinnon (South Boston), was sixth with 42 points followed by the California team – Mitsuhiro Iwamoto (San Diego) and Philip Kum (San Francisco), with sighted guides Danette Davis (Berkeley) and Al Spector (Sausalito) – with 46 points.
Paralympic classes: A more consistent breeze in the upper teens saw the leaders in each of the three Paralympic classes – 2.4 Metre, SKUD-18 and Sonar – solidify their positions on day two of The Clagett.
Mark Leblanc (New Orleans, La.) had perfect day in the 2.4 Metre, winning all three races to retain the lead position in the 12-boat fleet with eight points. 2010 Clagett champion Charles Rosenfield (Woodstock, Conn.) remains second overall with 16 points, and Peter Wood (Ottawa, CAN) is third with 21 points. Julia Dorsett (West Chester, Penn.) is racing The Clagett in a 2.4 Metre which she just purchased and shipped back from Europe as a birthday present to herself. The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics team member has taken a break from her SKUD-18 campaign and is clearly achieving her goal of sailing the 2.4 “just for fun.” She currently stands fourth overall with 27 points, followed by Tim Ripley (Randolph, N.J.) who has 40 points.
In the SKUD-18s, Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Brooke Thomson (Newport Beach, Calif.) won three out of four races today to retain the standings lead with seven points. Sarah Everhart Skeels (Tiverton, R.I.) and Aqeel Shhaib (Springfield, Ill.) moved up to second overall on 15 points, and are followed by Ken Kelly (Victoria, B.C. CAN) and Brenda Hopkin (Fairmont Hot Springs, CAN) with 18 points.
In the Sonar class, Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I. /Cape Coral, Fla.), Tom Brown (Castine, Maine) and Brad Johnson (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) lead with seven points after eight races. Albert Foster (Wayzata, Minn.), Jim Thweatt (Sacramento, Calif.) and David Burdette (Lutherville, Md.) are second with 16 points, followed by Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, Conn.), 2008 SKUD-18 Paralympic Gold Medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) and Christopher Murphy (Charleston, S.C.) with 17 points.
-end-
C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta
Changing Roles
Download the PDF
NEWPORT, R.I. (August 21, 2011) – Enabling sailors with disabilities to reach their personal competitive goals has always been central to the mission of the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta. With the ninth edition underway at Sail Newport, Rhode Island’s community sailing center, that has never been more apparent, and for two competitors in particular, one a veteran, the other a first-timer, “The Clagett” offers very different paths to their goals.
Nancy Jodoin (Natick, Mass.), has crewed for Sengil “Inky” Inkiala (Watertown, Mass.) since 2008 when she first started sailing, a pairing that proved successful when they won the 2009 Sail Newport Blind Sailing National Championship which is run as part of The Clagett. And while she will be crewing for him again this year, it will be in a vastly different capacity. Jodoin, who has had vision problems since birth, will be acting as a sighted guide for Inky as a result of an operation last winter that restored her sight after 57 years of visual impairment. “This is my opportunity to give back,” said Jodoin as she led Glenn Boivin (Saugus, Mass.) down the ramp for the first race of the 2011 series in Sail Newport’s fleet of J/22s, which are being raced with a crew of four: two sighted guides assisting two blind sailors. With her sight restored, Jodoin now takes on the role of guide while Boivin steps into her former role.
Back on dry land after five races, Jodoin said her goal for the event includes “getting through and not going in the water.” Explaining that she was feeling overwhelmed with the intensity of the starting line, and of seeing the water coming over the edge of the boat when it was heeled over, she remarked that there was a lot to do as the sighted guide including managing the traveler, main and backstay, all of which was new to her. While dealing with all those new responsibilities Jodoin was also profoundly moved by the sight of her fellow competitors as they prepared to go out sailing. She had never known of the overturned wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs left behind on the docks, and thinks it important to be able to “color in the details” for her visually impaired teammates. A registered nurse and care coordinator at Long Term Solutions in Natick, Jodoin’s night blindness was not improved by the surgery, and, in fact, her sighted status may not be permanent as she has already experienced some decline in her vision. For now, however, Jodoin is relishing every minute in her new role.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Aqeel Shhaib (Springfield, Ill.), a U.S. Army combat veteran who was wounded in December of 2009. Still undergoing rehabilitation for serious injuries to his leg and jaw, he participated in the third annual U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Military Sports Camp that was held this past July at Naval Station Newport. It was there that the wounded warrior, a former runner who was on crutches at the time, had his first-ever experience in a sailboat with none other than Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.), who is not only head coach for The Clagett but also the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Paralympic Coach. Within minutes of getting on the boat, Shhaib, a structural engineer who is pursuing a master’s degree in architecture, understood the mechanics of what to do to make the boat perform.
“I have not done anything physical or athletic [since the injury], and I am trying to do something I’ve never done. So far I love it,” he said dockside after the first day of racing. Crewing for experienced sailor Sarah Everhart-Skeels (Tiverton, R.I.) in a SKUD-18, he explained that his face hit the water a couple of times during racing today which had him screaming and howling. “It was a million dollar moment! The main line is the life of the boat and I held that in my hand.”
After a combined 10 hours of sailing, Shhaib has already met his goal for the regatta -- to have fun. And it also seems certain that Shhaib will soon add the language of sailing to the 11 he already speaks fluently.
Race Standings: The first day of racing, which was held in puffy conditions, with gusts up to 20 knots, saw five races completed by the blind sailors who are competing for the 2011 Sail Newport Blind Sailing National Championship. They will complete their series tomorrow, Monday, August 22, while the competitors in the Paralympic classes – 2.4 Metre, SKUD-18 and Sonar – got in four races today and continue racing through Tuesday, August 23.
In the seven-boat J/22 fleet, the Texas team skippered by Karen Penrose (Shore Acres) and James O’Laughlin (Clear Lake) with David Atkinson and Scott Tuma (both Shore Acres), holds a one-point lead over 2009 Blind Sailing World Champion Jason Wallenstein and Bruce Howell (Needham, Mass.) with world champion sighted guides Lisa O’Connor Dalton (Hull, Mass.) and Peter Frisch (Swampscott, Mass.). Standing third is Sengil “Inky” Inkiala (Watertown, Mass.), Glenn Boivin (Saugus, Mass.) with Nancy Jodoin (Natick, Mass.) and Ken Legler (Reading, Mass.)
The 2.4 Metre class has the largest contingent racing with 12 boats and is led by Mark Leblanc (New Orleans, La.). Leblanc, fresh from a fourth-place finish at the IFDS World Championships in Weymouth, England, has five points after four races. 2010 Clagett champion Charles Rosenfield (Woodstock, Conn.) is second overall with eight points, and Peter Wood (Ottawa, CAN), is third with 11 points.
In the SKUD-18s, Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Brooke Thomson (Newport Beach, Calif.) won all four races and lead the standings with four points, followed by Ken Kelly (Victoria, B.C. CAN) and Brenda Hopkin (Fairmont Hot Springs, CAN) with eight points and Sarah Everhart Skeels (Tiverton, R.I.) and Aqeel Shhaib (Springfield, Ill.) with 14.
In the Sonar class, Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I. /Cape Coral, Fla.), Tom Brown (Castine, Maine) and Brad Johnson (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) lead with five points. Albert Foster (Wayzata, Minn.), Jim Thweatt (Sacramento, Calif.) and David Burdette (Lutherville, Md.) are second with nine points, followed by Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, Conn.), 2008 SKUD-18 Paralympic Gold Medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) and Christopher Murphy.
As is tradition at this event, the clinic on Saturday, August 20, led by internationally-ranked sailors got the competitors ready for action on the water with classroom work followed by on-the-water coaching. For members of the race management team the organizer’s held their first-ever safety clinic that included a basic first aid briefing, and dealt with topics such as allergic reactions, hypothermia and brittle bones – all issues particularly relevant to the sailors with disabilities. George Brown (Fairfax, Va.), a 30-year member of the City of Fairfax Fire Department led the safety clinic with the assistance of Carl Lessard (Boston, Mass.) from Chartis. The safety clinic also included a dockside demonstration of back boards, as well as when and how to get a paralympic or quadriplegic competitor out of the water.
About the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic & Regatta: The ninth annual edition is scheduled for August 20-23, 2011, at Sail Newport, Rhode Island’s community sailing center. Widely respected as North America’s premier event for sailors with disabilities, it began as an event for a single class of boat with a stated mission of assisting sailors in realizing their potential on the water by providing them – through the one-day clinic that precedes racing – both the knowledge and tools to improve their skills, and the opportunity to test them in competition. The event has expanded to include all three boats that have been chosen as the equipment of the Paralympic Regatta: the three-person Sonar, the two-person SKUD-18 and the singlehanded 2.4 Metre. And, since 2008, blind sailors are also included as they race J/22s with sighted guides for the Sail Newport Blind National Sailing Championship.The C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta honors the late Tom Clagett (1916-2001), a U.S. Navy World War II veteran who learned to sail on the Chesapeake Bay. As a youngster he suffered temporary paralysis as the result of a bout of meningitis; it was an experience that left him with a deep respect for the accomplishments of people with disabilities, especially athletes.
Sponsors of the C. Thomas Clagett Memorial Clinic & Regatta are: Fiduciary Trust International, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Chartis, Innovative Construction and Roger King Fine Art.
-end-
The Clagett Receives Reeve Foundation Grant
Quality of Life Grant Underscores Event’s Mission
Download the PDF
NEWPORT, R.I. (August 4, 2011) – For the second time in its nine-year history, the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Regatta is the beneficiary of a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The foundation awards grant monies to non-profit organizations in recognition of programs that enable people with disabilities to live independent and active lives. The Quality of Life grant underscores the mission of the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta which was created to allow sailors with disabilities to reach their personal competitive goals, which in turn has a direct impact on their quality of life.
“It [The Clagett] has really improved my quality of life, my independence, and what I’m going to do with the rest of my life,” said Jody Hill (Seabrook, Texas). A professional yacht skipper before his spinal cord injury in 2006, Hill frankly admits that during his first two years post-injury he was depressed and getting into trouble. That changed once he found he could get back on the water and his appearance at the 2010 Clagett Regatta was his second-ever disabled sailing race. “It’s just been a real boost for me mentally and physically.”
Hill’s story is familiar to the organizers of the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta which has become North America’s premier event for sailors with disabilities. The ninth annual edition will take place August 20-23, 2011, once again at Sail Newport, Rhode Island’s community sailing center. The Quality of Life Grant will allow the event organizers to purchase a hydraulic-powered lift that facilitates the transfer of a wheelchair-bound sailor into a boat.
“The Clagett” has a stated mission of assisting sailors in realizing their potential on the water by providing them both the knowledge and tools to improve their skills through the one-day clinic that precedes racing, and then the opportunity to test them in competition. The water provides a level playing field for sailors to challenge themselves both physically and mentally in a sport that is frequently described as chess on water.
The pre-race clinic on Saturday, August 20, will again be run by world champion sailors: US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Paralympic Coach Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.), 2004 Olympian Stan Schreyer (Northampton, Mass.) and 2008 Canadian Paralympic Coach Craig Guthrie (Halifax, Nova Scotia). They will be joined by Tornado National Champion Jonathan Farrar (New York, N.Y.) and 2004 Olympian Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar (New York, N.Y.) for the on-the-water coaching that will take place during the three days of racing, Sunday through Tuesday, August 21-23.
The event is conducted in the three boats that have been chosen as the equipment of the Paralympic Regatta: the three-person Sonar, the two-person SKUD-18 and the singlehanded 2.4 Metre. Participation by able-bodied sailors in both the 2.4 Metre and Sonar fleets will raise the competitive bar even higher. Blind sailors are also included and they will race J/22s with sighted guides for the Sail Newport Blind National Sailing Championship.
The C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta honors the late Tom Clagett (1916-2001), a U.S. Navy World War II veteran who learned to sail on the Chesapeake Bay. As a youngster he suffered temporary paralysis as the result of a bout of meningitis; it was an experience that left him with a deep respect for the accomplishments of people with disabilities, especially athletes.
The Notice of Race (NOR) is now available online, as is information on logistics and previous editions of The Clagett. Discover more at the event website www.clagettregatta.org
-end-
CLAGETT ORGANIZATION RECEIVES $7,128 GRANT
FROM CHRISTOPHER & DANA REEVE FOUNDATION
FOR PARALYMPIC SAILING CLINIC AND REGATTA
Download the PDF
NEWPORT, RI – (August 4, 2011) – The Newport-based non-profit organization C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta is proud to announce that it has received a $7,128 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.
The award was one of 77 grants totaling more than $508,000 awarded by the Reeve Foundation to nonprofit organizations nationwide that aid in providing more opportunities, access and daily quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, their families and caregivers. Since the program was developed in 1999 by the late Dana Reeve, over 1,900 grants have been awarded totaling nearly $14.8 million.
The Clagett organization will use the grant to purchase aquatic lift equipment for the use on docksto assist Paralympic class sailors in and out of boats.
“We are very grateful for the Reeve Foundation grant which helps our organization provide training for sailors with disabilities who have set personal goals to reach competitive, intermediate and elite competition status,” said Judy McLennan (Portsmouth, R.I.), president of the C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta organization.
“The grant is a tremendous gift that we appreciate deeply. The support from the Reeve Foundation, and the association with Christopher Reeve’s life and legacy, provides an inspiration to each one of our sailors that is immeasurable. It is our hope that all the sailors who attend will have their quality of life improved by sailing at the Clagett Clinic and Regatta.”
This is the second grant to the Clagett organization from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. An earlier grant, through Sail Newport in 2007, awarded $5,000 to the Clagett Regatta which was a tune-up event for the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Trials - Sailing.
“We are honored to carry on Dana Reeve’s legacy through the Quality of Life Grants Program,” said Peter T. Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. “We believe those affected by paralysis deserve the best resources, support and community. We are proud to award these organizations who provide opportunities to those individuals living with paralysis, their families and friends, and caregivers, to enhance their well-being.”
The Reeve Foundation’s Quality of Life grants are divided into three categories, Actively Achieving, Bridging Barriers and Caring and Coping. Some Quality of Life grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Award #1U59DD000338). These grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations that address the needs of people living with paralysis caused by spinal cord and other injuries, diseases and birth conditions.
About the Reeve Foundation
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding
innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants,
information and advocacy. For more information, and to review the entire list of Quality of Life grant
recipients, please visit our website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.
About the Clagett Organization
The C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta was established in 2003 to help train
sailors with disabilities who hope to represent the U.S.A. at the international level of sailing
including the Paralympics. Any interested sailor with disabilities, including foreign sailors, are
welcome to participate in the four-day training and racing program led by sailing coaches
internationally recognized for their expertise and sailing achievements. The hallmark of The Clagett
is the clinic on day one that covers subjects from strategy to rules and is led by experts on those
topics combined with on-the-water coaching to work on technique. Three days of racing follows
which gives the sailors an opportunity to advance in a competitive event. In addition, sailors with
vision impairments were welcomed to “The Clagett” in 2008 to compete for the Sail Newport Blind
National Sailing Championship in a two-day series which runs concurrent with the annual Clagett
Clinic and Regatta. For more information on the Clagett Clinic and Regatta, visit the website at:
www.clagettregatta.org or call 401.846.1353. For more information on the Sail Newport Blind
National Sailing Championships visit the website at: www.sailnewport.org or call 401.846.1983.
Contact
Nanette Gifford
Clagett Memorial Clinic & Regatta
231 Indian Ave.
Portsmouth, RI 02871
401-846-1353
cmr@clagettregatta.org
Photos available upon request
Janelle LoBello
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
800-225-0292
media@ChristopherReeve.org
-end-